Izanagi no Mikoto

Izanagi is one of the primordial divine couple who, together with Izanami, performed the first acts of creation. Standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven, they stirred the primeval sea with the Heavenly Jeweled Spear, and the drops that fell from its tip coalesced into the island of Onogoro, the first land. From this base, they begat the Japanese archipelago and numerous deities.

When Izanami died giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi, Izanagi's grief drove him to slay the newborn deity and journey to Yomi, the land of the dead, to retrieve his wife. There he discovered her decaying form, and their confrontation at the border between life and death ended in an irrevocable separation—Izanami vowing to kill a thousand people daily, Izanagi vowing to cause fifteen hundred births.

Upon returning to the living world, Izanagi performed the first purification rites (misogi) in a river, an act of cosmic significance: from this cleansing emerged the three most important deities—Amaterasu from his left eye, Tsukuyomi from his right eye, and Susanoo from his nose. This ritual established misogi as a foundational practice in Shinto.